


Tarot

by w00pss



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, One Shot, Tarot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:53:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28481955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/w00pss/pseuds/w00pss
Summary: In which Hongjoong is so curious about his future that he gets a tarot reading everyday, or maybe, maybe, is it just that the tarot reader has a very attractive way of mixing cards.
Relationships: Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa
Kudos: 48





	Tarot

**Author's Note:**

> Hi :) This is my first work here (not the first story I wrote though) and it’s a short One Shot. I don’t have much to say except please leave kudos if you liked it!

Cards clapping against each other, getting beaten up, as always. It was a peaceful sound to Hongjoong’s ears. Everyday, after a fistful of tiring hours in the studio, he entered that same room, eager to know more about his own future. Or that’s what he was telling his friends. Because to be honest, he never believed in predicting events by choosing a couple of fancy cards, and that very day wasn’t an exception; he still thought of it as a foolish way of using time. Time which could be spent to change that oh-so-scary future. And yet, despite what he thought of this place, he still entered that candle scented room to embrace that peaceful and calming aura floating around that same boy. As ethereal and irreal as always.  
  


He didn’t change the routine; he sat on the floor in front of the tarot reader, a low table between them, and waited for the man to allow a look out of his cellphone’s screen. Which he did, after a couple of minutes. Some would call him disrespectful, but this specific customer didn’t care. They were a few more precious seconds to admire the man’s long lashes clapping lazily.

“Sorry, I’m quite busy these days.”

“Scheduling tarot readings?” asked Hongjoong, a discreet mocking grin on his face.

“Yeah, something like that,” he lied to preserve the bit of professionnalism he still had left.

He sighed, grabbing his cards and started mixing them in the same way he always did. Hongjoong noticed that his hands were moving faster than they were the month before, as if he got better at it. His long fingers were curling precisely, moving not too fast, nor too slow. The music producer couldn’t explain it, but even the way he held out the cards to him was appealing. Actually, everything about Seonghwa seemed attractive, from his newly ash grey hair to his plump lips, chapped by the season change.

“Touch the cards,” his hushed voice gently ordered in a way that could translate his usual boredom. “Now you can pick some. I guess your birthday didn’t change since yesterday?”

“You’re great at guessing,” Hongjoong answered, giving back the cards he chose.

“Okay so first, the reversed Judgment card. You’re going through hard times, experiencing self-doubt. You keep criticizing yourself for things out of your own control. If you keep being so hard on yourself, you’ll miss important opportunities. The 8 of Cups shows that you’re emotionally exhausted. You need to accept sharing your weaknesses to your loved ones. The Moon reflects your past. Anxiety and self-doubt may have led you to projecting your fears onto your relationships with others. Through this card you need to learn to trust yourself, because deep-down, you know your own strengths, you just chose to forget them. The 7 of Swords shows you’ll have a tendency to lack of honesty in a near future. Don’t let that break relationships.”

A shy smile appeared on Hongjoong’s lips as he realized that this specific reading was a bit too accurate.

“In a way, it kind of completes yesterday’s reading,” stated the older boy. “It basically said you needed to let your trust in a lover’s hands. Today’s reading is the reason why you should do that; you need someone to lean on so that you can remember your full worth and calm your mind.”

“I guess. Thanks.”

Hongjoong was now supposed to get up, putting the right amount of money on the table and leaving the room. But he didn’t. He stayed still for a couple of minutes, as Seonghwa’s eyes glanced at his cellphone again trying to put an end to his friends’ interminable and unnecessary fights. 

It was a given that Hongjoong wasn’t there  _ only _ to know more about his future. To be honest, he couldn’t remember properly any of the readings he paid for. However, Hongjoong could still recall very clearly the way Seonghwa smoothed back his hair a couple of days ago, the man’s thin-waisted and well-proportioned frame he eyed the day before, and the faint scent of shampoo that was coming from his dripping hair a week ago. Yeah, it was a given Hongjoong wasn’t there to know more about his future  _ at all _ .

“I have a question for you,” Seonghwa drawled.

It was probably the first time he ever showed any sort of interest in Hongjoong which made the younger one’s stomach knot in expectation. Expecting what? Even himself couldn’t quite put a finger on it.

“Go on.”

“Why do you come here everyday? You don’t even seem like the type who believes in tarot.”

“I’m very interested in my future. Must be the… How did you say it? Self-double?”

“Self-doubt,” the older man corrected him.

“Y-Yeah, that’s it. Oh god, I sound so stupid… Sorry, I’m bad at remembering.”

Even that white lie couldn’t help him hide his embarrassment.

“Tarot isn’t going to give you much.”

“Don’t you believe in tarot? You’re a tarot reader…”

“Are you here to ask me questions? To get to know me? I don’t think it’s the case.”

_ Oh you are so, so wrong _ , thought Hongjoong. His cheeks were now burning at how straightforward Seonghwa was.

“Anyway, if I were you, I’d stop spending so much money on some kind of cards interpretation.”

“Why would you tell me that?”

“I’m starting to feel bad for you. You gave me so much money that you must be broke by now.”

“Who cares,” mumbled Hongjoong, shrugging his shoulders. He sighed discreetly before smiling lightly. “I’ll not bother you longer.” 

He got up and was about to open the door when Seonghwa’s sweet and deep voice reached his eardrums.

“You’re not bothering me. You never did. I was saying that for  _ you _ . And your wallet, of course.”

“My wallet doesn’t seem to care more than I do,” he answered.

A second later, the door closed behind him.

“He’s so clearly not here for tarot,” laughed Seonghwa. “I wonder why he comes by so often.”

Which was a kind of stupid thing to wonder about considering the way Hongjoong looked, and blushed, at him. But Seonghwa was like that; he never gave any sort of space to false hopes. Actually, he wasn’t the type to hope at all. So even when the man he had a little crush on kept coming to him, not even listening to what he kept paying for, Seonghwa didn’t hope something could happen between them. He just wished the man would stop coming, because first, the way he kept biting his lower lip was gonna make Seonghwa crazy, and second, he just shouldn’t afford those stupid sessions. They were basically a way of loosing money.

Seonghwa was a bit different than any other tarot reader. For him, tarot was more something he learned to do rather than something he believed in. His aunt showed him how to interpret the cards, how to shuffle them in an elegant way and how to make the whole thing believable. Actually, it wasn’t really that she taught him  _ how  _ to make it credible, she just believed very deeply in the tarot’s power and he acted likewise, keeping his personal beliefs away from his job, hoping for his uncomfortable doubt to go away with time. But it never changed, Seonghwa always believed you only get from the tarot what you want and need to hear. The thing was, he never really wanted to become a tarot reader in the first place. He just wasn’t talented enough in what he liked to do. Maybe was it just because he didn’t even hope to be able to use his voice as a job. It was known after all that hoping wasn’t really something he did.

The next day, Hongjoong arrived a bit late. He wasn’t quite satisfied of the song he was working on, so he tried to stay at his studio longer but inspiration was really running away from him. As soon as he saw him, Seonghwa thought of something; what if he tried having a bit of fun? It’s not like the producer was  _ ever _ listening to him for real. He started shuffling the cards over and over, a smirk stretching mischievously his lips.

“Yesterday, we assumed you needed a lover, so what if we look at the future of your love life?”

“As you want.”

“You’re the one paying, though.”

Hongjoong simply raised his shoulders because it was so trivial considering the real reason he was paying for.

“Alright, pick the cards.”

Once the chosen cards were in his hands, he started talking non-sense to see if Hongjoong would notice the senseless things he was saying.

“First, here’s the squared card. It shows that you’ve already been in many different relationships, but you couldn’t find the right type of person for you. You should recenter yourself to find out what you’re really interested in. Now’s the-”

“Seonghwa?” he interrupted him for the first time since ever.

“Y-Yeah?”

“I don’t want to know anything about a future love life, actually.”

“Okay,” he answered, a sigh trapped behind his sealed lips. “What do you want to know, then?”

“I’m not sure. Can we even get anything new by now? I mean, you gave me so many readings.”

“There are always some hidden nuances here and there,” he mumbled as an answer, getting up.

The following silence felt uncomfortable. He turned his back to Hongjoong, picking up a matchstick to light a candle. Seonghwa started humming a random song to fill in the noiseless and heavy atmosphere. To the sound of the soft and deep voice, Hongjoong’s eyes closed to fully soak his ears with every details of the low croon. A couple of seconds later, an amused laugh parted his lips as a curse was heard.

“Almost burning my poor fingers because of that one stupid candle, why does it have to be the more pleasant scent?” he complained, forgetting for a moment his spectator.

“You should tilt the candle, Seonghwa.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s a good idea.”

“You sing well.”

A second curse was heard and he decided not to light the candle because he would probably end up handless at this point. He coughed slightly, running nervous fingers in his soft hair.

“It’s nothing like that,” he replied.

“I can assure you it is.”

“Don’t joke around about my voice, I’ve heard enough.”

“I’m serious.”

For a whole minute, Seonghwa’s feet were glued to the floor, an eyebrow slightly raised, eyes stuck in Hongjoong’s gaze.

“Want to come at my studio?”

His shaky finger hit his chest as if he wondered whether the producer was talking to him or to the invisible man by his side.

“Yeah, you.”

“I- Are you sure? I mean, I have absolutely no experiences, no, I have bad experiences, I-”

“Do you want to?”

He swallowed nonexistent saliva to try moistening his suddenly desert-dry throat.

“Sure. When?”

“Whenever you want. Right now?”

Minutes later, they were walking side by side on the wet sidewalk, cuddled by the night’s darkness. They then worked on a specific song for hours, inspiration finally flowing to reach Hongjoong’s skillful hands. Seonghwa was truly thrilled by the realization that his largest dream was becoming true once he had given up on it. The younger man couldn’t be as concentrated as he wished, glancing here and there at Seonghwa to find stars in his eyes. It’s like his usual dull expression completely disappeared under passion and excitement, and Hongjoong really liked that specific version of him.

When Seonghwa heard his own in-tuned voice’s recording in the studio’s earphones, he found out that Hongjoong was right; he did sing well. It was soothing, almost comforting. Neither Seonghwa, nor Hongjoong would say his singing was  _ great _ , but it was  _ good _ and for an untrained voice, saying that’s quite something.

“I have to admit working with you is pleasant.”

“Thank you for… everything, Hongjoong,” Seonghwa’s said in a hushed voice.

“Wanna know why I come by almost everyday?” a tired smile gently stretched his lips wounded by teeth’s marks. “I needed something else than work to focus on. But you brought me back to work. I’m not the open type, but I kind of want to tell you what’s really in there.” He pointed to  his own chest, in which his heart was beating like crazy. “I think I have a crush on you, Seonghwa.”

“Oh. You- Wait, no, I mean- I… How-“ his words tangled up. He put his palms on his burning cheeks to hide them, but the gesture was a bit too fast, so it made a slapping sound. “Ouch.”

With that almost silent word, a laugh came out of Hongjoong’s mouth, quickly followed by Seonghwa’s.

“Don’t be pressured, do what you want to do with the information, it’s okay.”

“Before anything, I’d like to get to know you a bit more, maybe?”

“You already know my whole future. You may even have discovered earlier with your cards we’re meant to hate each other,” complained the producer.

“I don’t care much about what my cards are showing, to be honest. That’s one thing you have to know about me.”

“Alright, then. We should indeed get to know more about each other. If you want to, of course.”

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

“Well that’s sorted.” He let a small silence slide in before continuing. “I think your voice has a lot of potential. I’m solely a producer, well sometimes I do rap, but that’s it. I work here with a couple of other producers, mixers and lyricists, however we don’t have anyone who actually sings. We usually only work with guests. It could be interesting to have a real vocalist. If it interests you, come here at any hour, really. There’s always someone working. We can get you scheduled a couple of singing lessons and see what we can do later on.”

“That would be… amazing. I always loved singing.”

“Is that a yes?”

And that’s how Seonghwa abandoned tarot for music, as he’d always dreamed of.

That’s how two months later, Hongjoong’s workroom changed for a bigger one to house Seonghwa’s desk.

That’s how four months later, they had their first kiss between two of Seonghwa’s singing practice.

That’s how a distracting way of mixing cards gave Seonghwa a boyfriend, or more likely the man of his life, who knows? Even the cards couldn’t tell him.


End file.
